There was a time when every citizen of the United States sought the right to vote. A great war was fought and several key amendments to the Constitution were passed to allow all peoples to participate in the great American democracy project. In the past, men and women, black and white, Christians and non-Christians, faithfully turned out on election days to cast their ballots.
Today, the times have changed. Recent election trends show that our generation is the most apathetic in all of American history. More and more people are becoming disillusioned and disenchanted with our elected officials each day, and voter apathy is a cause for concerns.
Media giants, the likes of CNN, MTV, and now, YouTube, have been attempting to reverse the trends. In the mid 1990s, MTV teamed up with Rock the Vote, a non-partisan public advocacy group, to turn out youth voters across America. In the 2004 elections, efforts made by Rock the Vote and MTV turned out more than a million voters among the age-bracket deemed most unlikely to vote in an election.
In the summer of 2007, CNN collaborated with YouTube, the video-sharing web-portal, to garner interest for the 2008 presidential election. The CNN/YouTube Debates allowed for users of YouTube to upload a 30-second video clip directing a question towards the candidates. CNN, in turn, would pick the 30-40 best ones and have the candidates answer the questions on live TV. CNN/YouTube Debates have allowed and will allow for the people’s voices and concerns to be heard by the presidential hopefuls.
So, in the spirit of Transformasphere, several church members took advantage of this opportunity to have our issues raised to a national level. With serious topical questions ranging from educational accountability to AIDS relief as well as a few light-hearted questions, we submitted clips of issues that the next leader of the free world should make much of in his/her presidency.
And so without further adieu, here are the clips we've submitted. Also, watch the Republican Presidential Debates lives on CNN at 8pm on Nov. 28, when CNN picks the 40 best questions that will be posed to the candidates.
On AIDS and PEPFAR
On North Korea
On Darfur and Genocide
On Affordable Healthcare
On No Child Left Behind
On the Bush Doctrine
On the Republican nomination
On Rudy Giuliani and Osama bin Laden
And last but not least, the question that CNN said was shockingly sophomoric:
On Superhero Powers